3GPP TS 22.129 V7.0.

0 (2006-03)
Technical Specification

3rd Generation Partnership Project;

Technical Specification Group Services and System Aspects
Service aspects;
Handover Requirements between UTRAN and GERAN
or other Radio Systems
(Release 7)

The present document has been developed within the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP TM) and may be further elaborated for the purposes of 3GPP.

The present document has not been subject to any approval process by the 3GPP Organisational Partners and shall not be implemented.
This Specification is provided for future development work within 3GPP only. The Organisational Partners accept no liability for any use of this Specification.
Specifications and reports for implementation of the 3GPP TM system should be obtained via the 3GPP Organisational Partners' Publications Offices.
Release 7 2 3GPP TS 22.129 V7.0.0 (2006-03)

Keywords
UMTS, GSM, handover

3GPP

Postal address

3GPP support office address

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Internet
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Copyright Notification

No part may be reproduced except as authorized by written permission.

The copyright and the foregoing restriction extend to reproduction in all media.

2006, 3GPP Organizational Partners (ARIB, ATIS, CCSA, ETSI, TTA, TTC).
All rights reserved.

3GPP
Release 7 3 3GPP TS 22.129 V7.0.0 (2006-03)

Contents
Foreword ............................................................................................................................................................5
1 Scope ........................................................................................................................................................6
1.1 Situations in which Service Requirements apply .................................................................................................... 6
2 References ................................................................................................................................................7
3 Definitions and Abbreviations .................................................................................................................7
3.1 Definitions............................................................................................................................................................... 7
3.2 Abbreviations .......................................................................................................................................................... 8
4 General Principles governing service continuity .....................................................................................8
4.1 Service Continuity Scenarios .................................................................................................................................. 8
4.2 Service Continuity requirements ............................................................................................................................. 8
4.2.1 Service continuity for CS................................................................................................................................... 8
4.2.2 Service continuity for GPRS ............................................................................................................................. 9
4.2.3 Service continuity for IM Services .................................................................................................................... 9
4.3 General Operational Considerations ....................................................................................................................... 9
4.3.1 Coverage environment....................................................................................................................................... 9
4.3.2 Inter PLMN Handover Issues ............................................................................................................................ 9
4.3.3 Charging and Network Management............................................................................................................... 10
4.3.4 Cost and efficiency .......................................................................................................................................... 10
4.3.5 Security............................................................................................................................................................ 10
4.4 Performance Requirements ................................................................................................................................... 10
4.4.1 Temporary degradation of service caused by handover .................................................................................. 10
5 Requirements for Handover ...................................................................................................................10
5.1 Handover due to UE Movement............................................................................................................................ 10
5.2 Handover due to negotiated service requirement .................................................................................................. 11
5.3 Handover between Radio Access Modes .............................................................................................................. 11
5.4 Cell capacity .......................................................................................................................................................... 11
5.5 Handover of a Multicall ........................................................................................................................................ 11
5.6 Access Rights ........................................................................................................................................................ 11
5.7 Handover for shared networks .............................................................................................................................. 11
6 Requirements for Handover from UTRAN to GERAN .........................................................................12
6.1 Operational Requirements ..................................................................................................................................... 12
6.1.2 GERAN bands ................................................................................................................................................. 12
6.2 Performance Requirements ................................................................................................................................... 12
6.2.1 Detection Time of Potential GERAN Handover Candidates........................................................................... 12
6.2.2 Number of GERAN handover candidates to detect......................................................................................... 12
6.2.3 Probability of Connection Loss ....................................................................................................................... 12
6.3 Specific Requirements for Individual Services from UTRAN to GERAN ........................................................... 12
6.3.1 Speech.............................................................................................................................................................. 12
6.3.2 Short Message Service..................................................................................................................................... 13
6.3.3 Cell Broadcast.................................................................................................................................................. 13
6.3.4 USSD ............................................................................................................................................................... 13
6.3.5 Facsimile.......................................................................................................................................................... 13
6.3.6 Data Bearer Services........................................................................................................................................ 13
6.3.6.1 Circuit Switched Data...................................................................................................................................... 13
6.3.6.2 Packet Switched Data ...................................................................................................................................... 13
6.3.7 Supplementary Services................................................................................................................................... 13
6.4 Requirements on multiple bearer services handover from UTRAN to GERAN................................................... 13
7 Requirements for Handover from GERAN to UTRAN .........................................................................14
7.1 Operational Requirements ..................................................................................................................................... 14
7.1.2 GERAN bands ................................................................................................................................................. 14
7.2 Performance Requirements ................................................................................................................................... 14
7.3 Specific Requirements for Individual Service Handover from GERAN to UTRAN............................................ 14

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7.3.1 Speech.............................................................................................................................................................. 14
7.3.2 Short Message Service..................................................................................................................................... 14
7.3.3 Cell Broadcast.................................................................................................................................................. 14
7.3.4 USSD ............................................................................................................................................................... 14
7.3.5 Facsimile.......................................................................................................................................................... 14
7.3.6 Data Bearer Services........................................................................................................................................ 14
7.3.6.1 Circuit Switched Data...................................................................................................................................... 14
7.3.6.2 Packet Switched Data ...................................................................................................................................... 15
7.3.7 Supplementary services ................................................................................................................................... 15
7.4 Requirements on multiple bearer services handover from GERAN to UTRAN................................................... 15
8 Cross Phase Compatibility for this release.............................................................................................15
8.1 Compatibility with Existing Specifications........................................................................................................... 15
8.2 Compatibility with Future 3GPP specifications .................................................................................................... 15
8.2.1 Requirements for Service Capabilities............................................................................................................. 15
8.2.2 Inter PLMN Handover Issues .......................................................................................................................... 16
8.2.3 Handover between Environments.................................................................................................................... 16
8.3 Support of Multicall with Simultaneous Voice Calls ............................................................................................ 16

Annex A (informative): Illustration of elements in inter-PLMN handover ......................................17

Annex B (informative): Open Points on Inter-Operator Handover ..................................................18
B.2 Selection of Target Cells for Handover..................................................................................................18
B.3 Network Information Exchange .............................................................................................................18
B.4 Service Requirements.............................................................................................................................18
B.5 Billing, Accounting and Charging Requirements ..................................................................................18

Annex C (informative): Change history ...............................................................................................19

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Foreword
This Technical Specification has been produced by the 3GPP.

The contents of the present document are subject to continuing work within the TSG and may change following formal
TSG approval. Should the TSG modify the contents of this TS, it will be re-released by the TSG with an identifying
change of release date and an increase in version number as follows:

Version x.y.z

where:

x the first digit:

1 presented to TSG for information;

2 presented to TSG for approval;

3 or greater indicates TSG approved document under change control.

y the second digit is incremented for all changes of substance, i.e. technical enhancements, corrections,
updates, etc.

z the third digit is incremented when editorial only changes have been incorporated in the specification;

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1 Scope
The scope of this document includes service requirements for handover maintaining continuity of service to a wireless
terminal as it moves between the radio coverage area, or "cells", associated with different base station sites. This
functionality is called "handover". Handover can also occur due to change of radio resource providing a service without
necessarily any change of the base stations involved. In particular, when the radio resources providing a service change
from one of the UTRA radio access modes to the other (UTRA-FDD and UTRA-TDD), this is regarded as handover.
Particular emphasis has been placed on the description of requirements for service continuity within UTRAN and
between UTRAN and GERAN but requirements specific to other systems are incorporated as required.

It is a key requirement to allow for dual or multi-mode terminals to handover traffic from UTRAN to other radio
systems such as GERAN and vice versa. This document describes the service requirements for intra- and inter- system
handover.

The following subject areas are within the scope of these service requirements:

- User perceived performance that may be influenced by handover;

- Operational requirements relating to handover;

- Security requirements.

The requirements set forth in this document are service requirements, in that they fulfil the following:

- The requirements are independent of the implementation of the UTRAN;

- The extent to which the requirements are met are in principle verifiable using observables that are not internal to
the UTRAN.

1.1 Situations in which Service Requirements apply

The service requirements in this document are as far as possible independent of the implementation. They therefore
apply to situations where handover would occur regardless of how the radio access network is implemented. Situations
envisaged are:

- Handover within UTRAN due to change of radio resource caused by UE movement between areas covered by
different transmitters;

- Handover within UTRAN due to change of UTRA radio access mode;

- Handover due to change of radio system.

It is possible that handover (i.e. change of radio resource) will occur in other situations, for example the technical
implementation of the UTRAN may necessitate it or O&M procedures initiated by the operator may force it.
Requirements for these situations are not within the scope of this document, with the exception of two remarks:

- Where the technical implementation of the UTRAN necessitates handover as a matter of normal operation (i.e.
not related to the above situations), then services shall in no way be degraded or adversely affected;

- The service requirements for handover occurring in situations such as O&M activity are outside the scope of this
document.

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2 References
The following documents contain provisions which, through reference in this text, constitute provisions of the present
document.

References are either specific (identified by date of publication, edition number, version number, etc.) or
non-specific.

For a specific reference, subsequent revisions do not apply.

For a non-specific reference, the latest version applies. In the case of a reference to a 3GPP document
(including a GSM document), a non-specific reference implicitly refers to the latest version of that document in
the same Release as the present document.

[1] 3GPP TR 21.905: " Vocabulary for 3GPP Specifications ".

3 Definitions and Abbreviations

3.1 Definitions
In addition to the following, abbreviations used in the present document are listed in TR 21.905 [1].

For the purposes of the present document, the following definitions apply:

Connection mode (for a bearer service): characterises the type of association between two endpoints as required by
the bearer service for the transfer of information. A bearer service is either connection-oriented or connectionless. In a
connection oriented mode, a logical association called connection needs to be established between the source and the
destination entities before information can be exchanged between them. Connection oriented bearer services lifetime is
the period of time between the establishment and the release of the connection.

Connectionless (for a bearer service): In a connectionless bearer, no connection is established beforehand between
the source and the destination entities; the source and destination network addresses need to be specified in each
message. Transferred information cannot be guaranteed of ordered delivery. Connectionless bearer services lifetime is
reduced to the transport of one message.

GERAN coverage: an area where mobile cellular services are provided by a GERAN in accordance with GERAN
specifications.

UTRAN coverage: an area where mobile cellular services are provided by a UTRAN in accordance with UTRAN
specifications.

Multi mode terminal: UE that can obtain service from at least one UTRA radio access mode, and one or more
different systems such as GERAN bands or possibly other radio systems such IMT-2000 family members.

Handover: The process in which the radio access network changes the radio transmitters or radio access mode or radio
system used to provide the bearer services, while maintaining a defined bearer service QoS.

Intra PLMN handover: Handover within the same network, i.e. having the same MCC-MNC regardless of radio
access system. Note: this includes the case of UTRAN <>GERAN handover where MCC-MNC are the same in both
cases.

Inter PLMN handover: Handover between different PLMNs, i.e. having different MCC-MNC.

Inter system handover: Handover between networks using different radio systems , e.g. UTRAN GERAN.

UTRA Radio access mode: the selected UTRA radio access mode i.e. UTRA-FDD; UTRA-TDD.

Radio system: the selected 2nd or 3rd generation radio access technology.

Service Continuity: The means for maintaining active services during changes in the coverage areas or their

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characteristics without, as far as possible, the user noticing. Note that Service Continuity can be achieved by handover,
cell re-selection or other mechanisms.

3.2 Abbreviations
For the purposes of the present document, the following abbreviations apply:

UE User equipment

4 General Principles governing service continuity

This section describes the general principles for service continuity within the UTRAN, within the GERAN and between
the UTRAN and other radio systems such as GERAN. As a principle, the requirements on service continuity
characteristics should be according to the target network on which the service is maintained.

4.1 Service Continuity Scenarios

Service continuity shall support the following scenarios:

1. Continuity of active CS services when moving within UTRAN, within GERAN and between UTRAN and
GERAN coverage areas.

2. Continuity of active GPRS sessions when moving within UTRAN, within GERAN and between UTRAN and
GERAN coverage areas.

3. Continuity of active IM Services when moving within UTRAN, within GERAN and between UTRAN and
GERAN coverage areas (that support those IM services).

Service continuity is not applicable for any call or session using resources specific to the source domain that cannot be
maintained using resources in the target domain.

4.2 Service Continuity requirements

For all scenarios, the specifications shall cover both service continuity within the same PLMN (intra-PLMN) and
between PLMNs (inter-PLMN) including the case where the PLMNs involved are operated by different network
operators.

It shall be possible for a user to roam between the different parts of a shared network without requiring any user
intervention. The user experience while roaming in a shared network shall be comparable to the user experience while
roaming in a non-shared network.

4.2.1 Service continuity for CS

The scenario numbers in this table refer to the scenarios in section 4.1.

To CS services

UTRAN GERAN
From CS UTRAN Yes - Yes -
services Scenario 1 Scenario 1
GERAN Yes Scenario 1 Yes Scenario 1

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4.2.2 Service continuity for GPRS

Service continuity of GPRS sessions (conversation, streaming, interactive and background) is required within the
GERAN, within the UTRAN, and between the UTRAN and GERAN (scenario 2 in section 4.1 above).

Note: Service continuity for conversational, streaming and interactive GPRS sessions is not applicable to and
from GERAN Release 4 or earlier, due to the lack of support for the conversational, streaming and
interactive GPRS within GERAN Release 4 or earlier. In these cases, although the QoS required may not
be available in the target, the bearer shall be maintained as long as possible. If the QoS supported by
GERAN is not acceptable, the user/application may terminate the session.

4.2.3 Service continuity for IM Services

Service continuity of IM services is required within the GERAN, within the UTRAN, and between the UTRAN and
GERAN (scenario 3 in section 4.1 above).

Note: Service continuity of IM Services is not applicable to and from GERAN Release 4 or earlier as the IM
Services service classes are not supported by GERAN Release 4 or earlier. In these cases, although the
QoS required may not be available in the target, the bearer shall be maintained as long as possible. If the
QoS supported by GERAN is not acceptable, the user/application may terminate the session.

4.3 General Operational Considerations

4.3.1 Coverage environment
Mechanisms defined to support service continuity between different radio systems or radio access modes should
effectively cope with a number of coverage scenarios:

- Limited coverage in a 'sea' of coverage provided by another radio system or radio access mode, or vice versa;

- Selective operation at a geographical boundary, with extensive UTRAN coverage on one side and extensive
coverage from another radio system on the other side;

- Geographically co-located areas of UTRAN coverage and another radio system.

However the specifications should impose no restrictions or assumptions on how an operator might deploy or operate
the network in both GERAN and UTRAN.

4.3.2 Inter PLMN Handover Issues

Handovers to support service continuity between PLMNs should remain an optional feature to implement. It is
envisaged that handover would take place due to changing radio conditions caused e.g. by movement of the terminal
causing it to leave the coverage area of a PLMN.

The following networks may be involved with an inter-PLMN handover procedure. These concepts are illustrated in
Annex A:

- The users home network, i.e. the operator where the users subscription may be found;

- The users visited network where the subscriber user is currently registered, i.e. the network where the subscriber
user has performed the last successful update location procedure. As long as the subscriber user is roaming
within the home network, home and visited network are identical;

- The user's serving network covering the cell that serves the subscriber. After successful completion of the update
location update procedure, the serving network is identical with the visited network. After an inter-PLMN
handover, the visited network is different from the serving network until a location update procedure has been
successfully completed (excepted the case that the subscriber returns into the visited network);

- The target network covering candidate target cell(s) for inter-PLMN handover. The target network has
overlapping radio coverage with the serving network but not necessarily with the visited network.

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The minimum requirements for inter-PLMN HO are:

- Continuity of an active call across the handover procedure, where this would be possible for intra-PLMN
handover;

- The decision whether the handover request is accepted must be taken by the target network.

4.3.3 Charging and Network Management

Means shall be standardised which allow charging records to record the time of handover in the case of inter-PLMN
operator handover. Charging records must be able to reflect the level of UTRA radio access, operation mode and
network type after handover.

A capability to provide network management information relating to frequency of occurrence and type of handover
should be defined.

4.3.4 Cost and efficiency

The UTRAN specifications shall facilitate the cost-effective implementation both on the network and on the terminal
side, of multi mode operation between GERAN and UTRAN. Impacts on networks based on earlier releases shall be
minimised. Such handover shall not require user intervention.

4.3.5 Security
Security requirements should embody the principle that handover shall not compromise the security of the network
providing the new radio resources; the (possibly different) network providing the original radio resources; and the UE.
The security mechanisms should also cater for appropriate authentication processes and meet the requirements of
national administrations in terms of lawful interception.

4.4 Performance Requirements

4.4.1 Temporary degradation of service caused by handover
During intra UTRAN handover or handover from UTRAN toGERAN, degradation of service shall be no greater than
during intra GERAN handover.

The duration of the discontinuity experienced by PS and CS real time services should be shorter than that in the
handover of CS speech calls over GERAN.

5 Requirements for Handover

5.1 Handover due to UE Movement

It should be possible to provide a technical implementation of handover such that there is no measurable impact on the
quality of any service when handover due to UE movement occurs. This does not imply that all handovers will achieve
this ideal. However, the specifications shall define at least one UTRA radio access mode in which this is possible given
the following:

- UE speed stays within limits for given service;

- UE stays constantly within UTRA coverage of a single UTRAN.

When there is handover to a new cell with different radio conditions and if a PS sessions is unable to maintain the
required quality of service, the QoS of the sessions may be modified to lower quality to continue communication.

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5.2 Handover due to negotiated service requirement

In order to allow the connection with the negotiated bearer- or teleservice to be established, means shall be defined,
which makes it possible for the core network, to recommend to access network to handover the UE to another RAT
better suited to support the desired bearer- or teleservice.

5.3 Handover between Radio Access Modes

The specifications shall permit a technical implementation of handover between radio access modes, although there
may be a temporary degradation of QoS on bearer services at the time of handover.

5.4 Cell capacity

Consideration must be given services such as multimedia, which may involve use of multiple bearers. Due for example
to cell loading, it may happen that a target cell cannot support the combination of bearer services provided by the
current serving cell. Although all bearer services may not be handed over, the handover to another cell should not be
precluded.

5.5 Handover of a Multicall

The handover event can trigger changes to individual calls in any multicall scenario.

It shall be possible to handover all the calls in a multicall configuration. If the target system is UTRAN and the target
cell is not able to accommodate all the calls in a multicall configuration, then the calls that are handed over are selected
according to operator preferences. If the target system is GERAN, then the call that is handed over shall be selected in
following order:

i The call of teleservice emergency call ;

ii The call of teleservice telephony;

iii The call of any other type according to operator preferences.

Calls that cannot be handed over will be released.

A change in the availability of suitable radio resources may also occur for other reasons in addition to handover.

5.6 Access Rights

It shall be possible to prevent handover to cells to which the UE does not have access rights. In this case, a handover to
allowed cells shall be attempted. For this release this requirement only applies for UTRAN to UTRAN and UTRAN to
GERAN handover in both A/Gb and Iu mode.

5.7 Handover for shared networks

Handover shall be supported within a shared network and between a shared network and a non-shared network.

The requirements that apply to inter PLMN handover between non-shared networks shall equally apply to inter PLMN
handover between shared networks as well as between a shared and a non-shared network.

The network shall be able to make the decision on the most appropriate candidate for handover based on any
combination of the following information:

- type of subscription (e.g. prepay / postpay)

- home network of the subscriber

- access rights

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- connected core network

NOTE: Access rights describe which of the candidates for handover a subscriber is allowed to access. The access
rights are granted by the home PLMN on a subscriber by subscriber basis.

6 Requirements for Handover from UTRAN to GERAN

6.1 Operational Requirements

6.1.2 GERAN bands
The standard shall support handover to any combination of GERAN bands supported by the specifications.

6.2 Performance Requirements

The following service principles apply to performance requirements:

- When the UE performs handover to GERAN then the service requirements of GERAN that relate to handover
between different cells in different location areas is taken as the benchmark. It is not the intention to set more
stringent service requirements for UTRAN to GERAN handover than are already commonly accepted for
handover within GERAN.

6.2.1 Detection Time of Potential GERAN Handover Candidates

Means shall be defined which allow the UE to achieve as good detection time performance as the GERAN benchmark:
i.e. to behave in such a way as to detect potential handover candidates as quickly as a mobile performing an intra
GERAN handover is required to do so.

6.2.2 Number of GERAN handover candidates to detect

Means shall be available which allow UE to detect an equal number of GERAN handover candidates relative to the
GERAN benchmark, i.e. to behave in such a way as to detect as many potential handover candidates as a mobile
performing an intra GERAN handover is required to do so.

6.2.3 Probability of Connection Loss

The service requirement is that it should be possible to hand over to GERAN from UTRAN with a probability of
connection loss that fulfils the corresponding service requirement for intra GERAN handover.

6.3 Specific Requirements for Individual Services from UTRAN

to GERAN
6.3.1 Speech
Handover of a CS Speech teleservice (TS11) from UTRAN to GERANis required. This requirement also applies to
emergency calls (TS12):

- Any call based on the default UTRAN speech codec (AMR) shall be mapped to the FR GSM speech codec. In
the case the terminal and the GERAN network support AMR and /or EFR and/or HR, it shall be the operators
choice to define the appropriate mapping.

Means shall be defined which make it possible to limit any temporary degradation on handover so it meets the
performance specified by GERAN service requirements for speech handover.

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6.3.2 Short Message Service

There are no requirements related to handover for short message service.

6.3.3 Cell Broadcast

There are no requirements related to handover for cell broadcast.

6.3.4 USSD
The technical specifications shall provide means to ensure that any handover that occurs during a USSD interaction
need no more affect the service than intra-GERAN handover.

6.3.5 Facsimile
It is not required that a facsimile transmission that is active between UE and network at the time of handover from
UTRAN to GERAN completes successfully.

6.3.6 Data Bearer Services

6.3.6.1 Circuit Switched Data

Specifications shall be defined to permit the possibility of handover of a UTRAN data bearer service to GERAN

Means shall be defined which make it possible to limit any temporary degradation on handover so it meets the
performance specified by GERAN service requirements for data bearer service handover.

6.3.6.2 Packet Switched Data

It is required to handover a user PS context between GERAN and UTRAN. Independently of the used air interface, the
user shall stay connected to an external network (internet, intranet).

6.3.7 Supplementary Services

Control and use of Supplementary Services should not be effected by a handover to GERAN.

6.4 Requirements on multiple bearer services handover from

UTRAN to GERAN
Consideration must be given to services that may involve multiple bearer services. The mapping between UTRAN
bearer services and GERAN bearer services will depend upon many factors such as data rate, delay constraints, error
rate etc. In the event certain UTRAN bearer services cannot be handed over to GERAN, the handover of some of the
bearers to maintain the service should not be precluded.

In the case where user equipped with a dual mode terminal is in UTRAN coverage and has multiple PDP contexts
activated (for instance to support multimedia) then it is preferable to handover one PDP context, rather than dropping
all of them.

As a first priority only the PDP contexts which have an associated QoS that can be supported by the GERAN should be
candidates for handover.

If there are still multiple PDP contexts as "handover candidates" then it shall be an operator choice which PDP context
will be maintained. When roaming this decision shall be taken by the serving network. The operator may choose to
either;

a) Drop all of the PDP contexts.

b) Choose one based upon criteria such as duration, amount of traffic transferred, etc.

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In case of UTRAN to GERAN handover of a Multicall only one call can be handed over.

7 Requirements for Handover from GERAN to UTRAN

7.1 Operational Requirements

7.1.2 GERAN bands
The standard shall support handover from any combination of GERAN bands supported by the GERAN specifications.

7.2 Performance Requirements

During handover from GERAN to UTRAN, temporary degradations shall be no greater than for intra-GERAN
handovers.

7.3 Specific Requirements for Individual Service Handover from

GERAN to UTRAN
7.3.1 Speech
AMR, EFR, FR and HR calls shall be mapped to the default UTRAN speech codec.

7.3.2 Short Message Service

There are no requirements related to handover for short message service.

7.3.3 Cell Broadcast

There are no requirements related to handover for cell broadcast.

7.3.4 USSD
The technical specifications shall provide means to ensure that any handover that occurs during a USSD interaction
need no more affect the service than intra-GERAN handover.

7.3.5 Facsimile
It is not required that a facsimile transmission that is active between UE and network at the time of handover from
GERAN to UTRAN completes successfully.

7.3.6 Data Bearer Services

7.3.6.1 Circuit Switched Data

Specifications shall be defined to permit the possibility of handover of a data bearer from GERAN to UTRAN.

Means shall be defined which make it possible to limit any temporary degradation on handover so it meets the
performance specified by GERAN service requirements for circuit switched data handover.

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7.3.6.2 Packet Switched Data

It is required to handover a user context between GERAN and UTRAN. Independently of the used radio interface, the
user shall stay connected to an external network (internet, intranet). Any change in the QoS shall be seen at the service
access points as a network initiated renegotiation of QoS. If the supported QoS is not acceptable, the UE/user may
terminate the connection/context.

Means shall be defined which make it possible to limit any temporary degradation on handover so it meets the
performance specified by GERAN service requirements for packet switched data handover.

7.3.7 Supplementary services

Control and use of Supplementary Services should not be effected by a handover to UTRAN.

7.4 Requirements on multiple bearer services handover from

GERAN to UTRAN
Consideration must be given to services that may involve the use of multiple bearer services. For example Class A
GPRS terminals will be capable of simultaneously supporting more than one data bearer services. Means shall be
defined to allow handover of several data bearer services from GERAN to UTRAN

8 Cross Phase Compatibility for this release

This section details the cross phase compatibility requirements relating to the service requirements in this document.

Note: When a change is introduced which affects the 3GPP technical specifications, it is said to be 'backward
compatible' if existing equipment can continue to operate and perform correctly with equipment that
conforms to the new implementation.

8.1 Compatibility with Existing Specifications

Where the service and operational requirements in this document relate to a GERAN, compatibility is required with
systems conforming to the R99 or later GERAN specifications.

8.2 Compatibility with Future 3GPP specifications

The specifications that define the technical implementation of this release should be developed in such a way that it is
practical to add the requirements in this section in a backward compatible manner.

8.2.1 Requirements for Service Capabilities

3GPP standardises service capabilities, not services. As part of the service capabilities it is envisaged that applications
may wish to respond to events related to handover that either has occurred, is about to occur or could potentially occur.
The service capabilities described in this section should be available at least to UE hosted applications.

The following list of uses is provided as an example and is not intended to be exhaustive:

- An application may wish to accept or reject offered QoS;

- An application may wish to cope to the effect that handover has on a service, for example facsimile
retransmission;

- An application may wish to preferentially choose radio resources.

It is therefore required that the service capability set available to an application be able to provide an indication that
handover has occurred or could occur with information about the type of handover and radio resources involved. The

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Release 7 16 3GPP TS 22.129 V7.0.0 (2006-03)

service capabilities should support QoS negotiation.

8.2.2 Inter PLMN Handover Issues

The minimum requirements for inter-PLMN HO are:

- The ability to check with the home network whether the user is permitted to handover from the visited network
to a target network.

- Invocation of the handover procedure only occurs if the target network provides the radio channel type required
for the respective call;

- The avoidance of "network hopping", i.e. successive handover procedures between neighbouring networks for
the same call;

- The possibility of user notification of inter-PLMN HO (e.g. possible tariff change) when it occurs.

8.2.3 Handover between Environments

UMTS is expected to provide coverage in a number of environments including fixed and mobile as described in the
table below. The technical specifications should not preclude the possibility of implementing these requirements in a
backward compatible manner.

To Terrestrial Cellular Fixed/Cordless Satellite

From
Terrestrial Cellular Yes (R99) Yes Yes
Fixed/Cordless Yes Yes Yes
Satellite Yes Yes No

8.3 Support of Multicall with Simultaneous Voice Calls

In the case where Multicall is used to support multiple voice calls a handover must be attempted for each bearer that is
in use. In the case where not all bearers can be supported by the destination network the related voice calls shall be
automatically put on hold. After the handover is completed, the subscriber shall be able to retrieve any held voice call
by invoking the Call Hold service.

This requirement is dependent on the user subscribing to Call Hold.

This is only required if there is more than one simultaneous speech call and this is therefore not required for this
release.

3GPP
Release 7 17 3GPP TS 22.129 V7.0.0 (2006-03)

Annex A (informative):
Illustration of elements in inter-PLMN handover
Figure 1 illustrates the above definitions taking an example of European GSM networks. The subscriber's home
network is France. The visited network where the subscriber is registered in a VLR is Germany. The signalling
connection between HLR and VLR is indicated by dotted lines. The calls for the subscriber are controlled by the MSC
collocated to the VLR where the subscriber is registered. This MSC is called "anchor MSC".

Handover to a different MSC may occur if the cell serving the subscriber after handover is not controlled by the anchor
MSC. This MSC is called the "serving MSC". Even after the call has been handed over to a different MSC, the call
control function remains in the anchor MSC. The signalling connection and circuit switched connection established
between anchor MSC and serving MSC are indicated by a solid line.

When the French subscriber registered in a German network roams near the border to the Netherlands, inter-PLMN
handover may occur. In this case a Dutch network is the target network. After handover, the anchor MSC located in a
German network continues to control the call. The German network remains the visited network where the subscriber is
registered. The subscriber's location information stored in the HLR remains unchanged. The signalling and circuit
switched connections between the anchor MSC and the previously serving MSC in the German network will be
released when the User Equipment (UE) is served by a cell within a Dutch network. The Dutch network becomes the
serving network. From the Dutch network the subscriber may be handed over to a Belgian network.

(1) Germany
(2)
Netherlands
(3)
Belgium VLR
MSC
MSC

MSC MSC

Luxembourg

Gateway
MSC

Gateway
MSC

HLR

France

Fig. 1: Example for Inter-PLMN handover

Figure 1: Example for inter-PLMN handover

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Release 7 18 3GPP TS 22.129 V7.0.0 (2006-03)

Annex B (informative):
Open Points on Inter-Operator Handover
The requirements outlined below are likely to need further elaboration, although these may be outside the scope of
service requirements.

B.2 Selection of Target Cells for Handover

A mechanism is envisaged to support the selection of the target cell for handover. The target cell may be part of the
serving network or part of another network.

B.3 Network Information Exchange

A mechanism is envisaged to support the exchange of network information between different operators. Two categories
of network information are identified:

- static information, for example, neighbour cell lists, interconnecting traffic and signalling links, etc.;

- dynamic information, for example real-time signalling information related to target cell selection, etc.

B.4 Service Requirements

FFS.

[There is a need to identify which services can be maintained during handover and the interactions of services across
network boundaries]

B.5 Billing, Accounting and Charging Requirements

FFS.

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Release 7 19 3GPP TS 22.129 V7.0.0 (2006-03)

Annex C (informative):
Change history

Document history
<Version> <Date> <Milestone>

0.0.1 29 Oct 98 First Draft for tdoc

0.0.2 5 Jan 98 Evolved from tdoc 3 then 7 of SMG 1 handover ad hoc

0.0.3 6 Jan 98 evolved from tdoc 20 of SMG1 handover ad hoc

0.0.4 7 Jan 98 evolved from tdoc 35 of SMG1 handover adhoc

0.0.5 8 Jan 98 Evolved from tdoc 45 of SMG1 handover adhoc

1.0.0 27 January To be presented as version 1.0.0 to SMG#28 for Approval

1.1.0 5 Mar 99 - new requirment for inter-operator handover, as demanded by SMG

- removes text on security requirements by referencing 33.21
- editorial revisions

1.2.0 22 Mar 99 1 Initial draft for email handover ad hoc 22-27 Mar.

1.3.0 24 Mar 99 Clarify inter-operator handover requiremetn

1.4.0 26 Mar 99 Proposed as draft version 2.0.0

2.0.0 12 Apr 99 Draft version 2.0.0

2.0.1 12 Apr 99 Editorially equivalent 2.0.0, with editorial comments removed

2.0.2 16 April 99 Editorial review

3.0.0

3.1.0 October 1999 Inclusion of CRs at SA#5

3.2.0 December 1999 Inclusion of CRs at SA#6

3.3.0 June 2000 Inclusion of CRs at SA#8

4.0.0 October 2000 Inclusion of CRs at SA#9

4.1.0 January 2001 Inclusion of CRs at SA#10

4.2.0 March 2001 Inclusion of CRs at SA#11

Change history
TSG SA# SA Doc. SA1 Doc Spec CR Rev Rel Cat Subject/Comment Old New WI

SP-05 SP-99436 S1-99500 22.129 002 R99 F SMS handover requirement 3.0.0 3.1.0
clarification
SP-05 SP-99436 S1-99516 22.129 003 R99 D Removal of out-of-date appendix 3.0.0 3.1.0
SP-05 SP-99436 S1-99533 22.129 004 R99 D Editorial improvements of 3.0.0 3.1.0

3GPP
Release 7 20 3GPP TS 22.129 V7.0.0 (2006-03)

Change history
TSG SA# SA Doc. SA1 Doc Spec CR Rev Rel Cat Subject/Comment Old New WI
definitions and alignment of
terminology
SP-05 SP-99436 S1-99540 22.129 005 R99 C To elucidate 1-1 handover 3.0.0 3.1.0
principle for R99
SP-05 SP-99436 S1-99541 22.129 006 R99 D Clarification of the scope of 3.0.0 3.1.0
mandatory requirements
SP-05 SP-99483 S1-99565 22.129 007 1 R99 C Removes all non-R99 3.0.0 3.1.0
requirements, by changing them
into Cross phase compatibility
requirements which apply to
R99.
SP-06 SP-99553 S1-99877 22.129 008 R99 D Editorial CR to 22.129 3.1.0 3.2.0
SP-06 SP-99523 S1-991019 22.129 009 R99 D 3G/2G handover in the PS 3.1.0 3.2.0
Domain
SP-06 SP-99523 S1-991066 22.129 010 R99 B Handover of a Multicall 3.1.0 3.2.0
SP-06 SP-99521 S1-99868 22.129 011 R99 C Performance requirements for 3.1.0 3.2.0
real time services and
requirements for handover
between UMTS and GPRS
SP-08 SP-000205 S1-000349 22.129 012 R99 F Alignment of handover 3.2.0 3.3.0
requirements for Multicall
SP-09 SP-000426 S1-000574 22.129 013 R99 F Removal of requirements for 3.3.0 3.4.0
SoLSA support
SP-09 SP-000389 S1-000613 22.129 014 R4 B Bearer Modification without pre- 3.3.0 4.0.0
notification

SP-10 SP-000534 S1-000863 22.129 015 R99 F Handover requirements 3.4.0 3.5.0
SP-10 SP-000534 S1-000864 22.129 016 Rel-4 A Handover requirements 4.0.0 4.1.0 TEI4
SP-11 SP-010061 S1-010251 22.129 017 Rel-4 D Editorial CR to correct 4.1.0 4.2.0 CORREC
references to releases T
SP-12 SP-010264 S1-010553 22.129 018 Rel-4 F Bearer modification without pre- 4.2.0 4.3.0 BMWPN
modification
SP-12 SP-010245 S1-010353 22.129 019 Rel-4 F Inter PLMN handover 4.2.0 4.3.0 Handover
SP-13 SP-010434 S1-010859 22.129 020 1 Rel-5 B Release 5 IMS Service 4.3.0 5.0.0 IMS
Continuity Requirements
SP-14 SP-010670 1289 22.129 025 Rel-5 A Multicall handover requirements 5.0.0 5.1.0
SP-16 SP-020250 S1-021093 22.129 026 Rel-5 F CR to TS 22.129 on access 5.1.0 5.2.0 TEI
rights in connected mode
SP-19 SP-030035 S1-030271 22.129 027 - Rel-6 B Netshare CR to TS 22.129 on 5.2.0 6.0.0 NTShar-
Requirements for Network CR
Sharing in Rel-6
SP-22 SP-030704 S1-031300 22.129 028 4 Rel-6 B Service based 6.0.0 6.1.0 TEI
handover/assignment
SP-31 - - 22.129 - - Rel-7 Rel-7 created as a result of 6.1.0 7.0.0 -
applying CR 0029 from SA #31
to Rel-6 in order to create Rel-8

3GPP